With Wii's birthday coming up a look at its first year

[Steve 3.2]

Avinash_Tyagi said:

Steve 3.2 said:
Here's my brief take on the past year and a look at the one ahead:

Past Year Sales - Blockbuster year number one. The only two negatives I can think of are that Nintendo hasn't been able to make more and that demand has begun to slack off in Japan a bit. We'll have to see if that's temporary or...

Next Year Sales - ...will they remain soft after the holidays are over? Sales in the US will remain high and Europe will be the wild card. The Wii should easily pass the sales of the GameCube by early 2008. But once all of those GameCubes have been replaced, will demand begin to soften across the globe? Software is going to be key in 2008. The Wii can't sell forever based upon Wii Sports alone. Speaking of...

Past Year Games - Crap. Besides a few great first party games and a handful of some good third party ones, this past year has been a major letdown on the software side of things. Enough ports and mini game collections! Except those Raving Rabbids. I'm looking forward to the sequel.

Next Year Games - The outlook is muddled. Nintendo will bring out some major sequel to their key franchises. And Wii Fit and other 'ungames' should continue to help diversify the lineup. As for third parties, it seems like many still don't get it. It'll be interesting to see what happens when Wii Ware finally launches.

Past Year Overall - Amazing sales, some good games here and there, and an online plan that has yet to impress. Yes, the Wii has a lot of potential. But will it live up to it?

Next Year Overall - Quick answer is 'No'. 2008 will continue to be a building year and I don't think we'll see what the Wii is really capable of from a major game standpoint until 2009. But 2009 and beyond is a discussion for another time.

(As for the comparisons, Avinash_Tyagi, if you look past the 49 weeks you'll note that the Wii faces much stiffer competition from the PS2/DS in their second full year. So year one has been good, but can Wii ramp up to those levels? PS2, maybe. DS though? Hmmm... Not sure.)

A few flaws, first off PS2 demand was down at this point in its life, even less than the wii is now, secondly Wii with competition has done better or at least as well as the other two, a bigger feat, saying the wii is weakening proves you failed history.

 

Also saying Wii games the past year is crap proves you don't know what you're talking about, games like Zack and Wiki, Mario Galaxy, etc. are among the best this gen

I failed history did I?  Go check the charts for yourself:

http://vgchartz.com/hwlaunch.php?cons1=Wii&reg1=Japan&cons2=PS2&reg2=Japan&cons3=DS&reg3=Japan&weeks=104

http://vgchartz.com/hwlaunch.php?cons1=Wii&reg1=America&cons2=PS2&reg2=America&cons3=DS&reg3=America&weeks=104 

http://vgchartz.com/hwlaunch.php?cons1=Wii&reg1=Europe&cons2=PS2&reg2=Europe&cons3=DS&reg3=Europe&weeks=104 

So in the PS2's second year, they went from less than 4M to over 12M sold in Japan.  Quite a slackening in demand.  In fact, in all three territories the PS2 did better in its second year that the first.  And I stand by my statement that Wii demand has declined in Japan lately.  Period.  End of sentence.  It's a fact.  Get over it, Fanboy!

And up until very recently, Wii games have been mostly crap.  You named two titles.  I said that there were some good first party games and a handful of third party ones.  That's less than a handful.  Checking metacritic for a second, as of today's writing it only took an average score of 76 to get on the Top 20 All Time High Scores for Wii games.  And that includes recent hits like Galaxy and Z&W.  That's not so hot when compared the the top 20 for other consoles including the often ridiculed PS3.  The lowest score on their Top 20 is an 83.

The Wii has done well.  I said that.  Bit it also deserves a bit of criticism.  And if you can't take it, go somewhere else.